Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm a 21 year old new owner to a 6 mo old baby ball python.
I got a 20 gallon tank to start off, water bowl, log hide temp and humidity gauge for now. (astroturf style bedding)

He is very curious about the cage and tries to escape alot of course.

Questions:

One: s/he recently had a shed cycle and there is a 1/2" patch of excess skin. how or should i remove it?

Two: s/he seems very playful and energetic, kinda flops around and falls a bit and is clumsy, should I watcho ut for anything that may hurt him/herself?

Three: Should i wash my hands after handling the snake everytime?

four: I've had the snake for 3 days and s/he's sleeping in my lap and doesn't mind being around my neck and hanging out for a while. Is that uncommon?

one; Soak her in luke warm water (if it is warm to you it is hot to her) and then peal it off.

two; She won't hurt herself

three; Yes, wash your hands. Although reptiles are cleaner in most ways than mammals, all species of reptile can carry salmonella.

four; it sounds like your snake has a very nice temperment. However, you should not handle her until you get her to eat. If she is eating than you are all set. Just remember to give her a day or two to digest after eating before you handle her and don't handle her too much. Good luck and welcome to the hobby.
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1.1 Balls (1.0 het clown 0.1 normal)
1.1 Kittys and
0.1 WC Human
"I need evaluation...and dinner; and by dinner I don't mean gnome heads!"

the snake was climbing on my temp/humidity gauges taht were adhesively attached to the tank. The weight overcame one of them and the snake fell with part of the adhesive (strong stuff) against his 'back'. I very slowly and carefully peeled the gauge off and i didn't notice that I pulled any scales off. I placed the gauges now on the very bottom of the cage so he can't have unsupported weight, they are touching hte bottom so less likely to come off if its on it.

What should I do incase that happens again, and what color is snakes blood?

Python blood is red just like ours. If you didn't see any damage than the snake should be ok. I am not sure how accurate the humidity gage is at the bottom of the cage. If the snake spends most of it's time on the floor than this is probably good but I've always put mine in the middle and that's the only way I've seen it done so you may want to start another thread and find out from someone with more tech knowlege. It's probably fine though. Not trying to scare you, its just a good idea to cover the bases. Good luck.
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1.1 Balls (1.0 het clown 0.1 normal)
1.1 Kittys and
0.1 WC Human
"I need evaluation...and dinner; and by dinner I don't mean gnome heads!"